Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
5/5
Audiobook13 hours
The Fens: Discovering England's Ancient Depths
Written by Francis Pryor
Narrated by Francis Pryor
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
“Whenever I travel somewhere else, in upland Britain, I find the hills and the horizon are leaning towards me, as if trying to cover me over; to blinker my gaze and stifle my imagination. It's always a huge relief to get back to the its infinite vistas of the Fens.”
The Fens is Britain's most distinctive, complex, man-made and least understood landscape. Francis Pryor has lived in, excavated, farmed, walked and loved the Fen Country for more than forty years: its levels and drains, its soaring churches and magnificent medieval buildings. In The Fens, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation the great drainage projects that created the Old and New Bedford Rivers, the Ouse Washes and Bedford Levels, the rise of prosperous towns and cities, such as King's Lynn, Cambridge, Peterborough, Boston and Lincoln with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist.
“Pryor feels the land rather than simply knowing it.” GUARDIAN
'Francis Pryor brings the magic of the Fens to life in a deeply personal and utterly enthralling way' TONY ROBINSON
The Fens is Britain's most distinctive, complex, man-made and least understood landscape. Francis Pryor has lived in, excavated, farmed, walked and loved the Fen Country for more than forty years: its levels and drains, its soaring churches and magnificent medieval buildings. In The Fens, he counterpoints the history of the Fenland landscape and its transformation the great drainage projects that created the Old and New Bedford Rivers, the Ouse Washes and Bedford Levels, the rise of prosperous towns and cities, such as King's Lynn, Cambridge, Peterborough, Boston and Lincoln with the story of his own discovery of it as an archaeologist.
“Pryor feels the land rather than simply knowing it.” GUARDIAN
'Francis Pryor brings the magic of the Fens to life in a deeply personal and utterly enthralling way' TONY ROBINSON
Author
Francis Pryor
Dr Francis Pryor has spent thirty years studying the prehistory of the Fens. He has excavated sites as diverse as Bronze Age farms, field systems and entire Iron Age villages. From 1980 he turned his attention to pre-Roman religion and has excavated barrows, ‘henges’ and a large site dating to 3800 B.C. In 1987, with his wife Maisie Taylor, he set up the Fenland Archaeological Trust. He appears frequently on TV’s ‘Time Team’ and is the author of ‘Seahenge’, ‘Britain B.C.’ and ‘Britain A.D.’
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Reviews for The Fens
Rating: 4.714285714285714 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
7 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enjoyable to listen to. Lots of interesting information about a place some of my family were from. Pleased to find a British author and book on a meaningful subject.